Editorials category, Page 36
Editorial: Late budgets are the norm in Pa., but 2023 is a little different
Yet again, Pennsylvania starts the fiscal year without a budget. Who could have predicted this? Almost anyone who has paid even grudging attention to the state’s woefully gridlocked government would have trouble missing it. Failing to have the legislative and executive branches agree on what the state will do and...
Editorial: Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial spotlights importance of mental health
The jury hearing the case of Robert Bowers in the federal courthouse Downtown already has decided he is guilty of the hate-motivated murders of 11 people, members of the three congregations that met at the Tree of Life Or L’Simcha synagogue in Squirrel Hill on Oct. 27, 2018. Now they are...
Editorial: What do financial problems mean for future of Independence?
The merger of Butler Health System with Excela Health was supposed to take the local medical groups and forge them into a larger, stronger entity that would survive and serve. The two officially became one entity in January. In May, it adopted a new name: Independence Health System. A new...
Laurels & lances: Furries and taxes
Laurel: To being popular. Pittsburgh sometimes can seem as defined by its rivalries as by its assets. A good football game can be one in which the visiting team is one of those perpetual enemies like the Cleveland Browns or Baltimore Ravens. Is there a better hockey night than one...
Editorial: Pa. needs better reintegration plan when paroling former prisons
SCI Greensburg was once a center of activity in Westmoreland County. It housed around 900 inmates. It was staffed by 360 people, generating paychecks that fueled business throughout the area. Then, in 2013, it closed. Overnight it went from being a place with purpose to a question mark. What would...
Editorial: Marc Fogel Act is important step forward in bringing detainees home
Marc Fogel’s name has been relatively lost in the conversation about Americans detained in Russia. In Southwestern Pennsylvania, we hear it a lot because Fogel is one of our own: a teacher from Oakmont with family who lives here and waits for his return. But outside the area, his name...
Editorial: Juvenile detention needs staffing solutions to keep doors open
Pennsylvania needs to find a fix for juvenile detention. So do counties. Westmoreland County’s Regional Youth Services Center has had its juvenile detention facility shut down temporarily because of staffing issues and state investigations. The investigations come after two incidents occurred in a short time frame. One was a suicide...
Editorial: Competing for college students amid declining enrollment
Pennsylvania does not have the most colleges of any state. That spot goes to California, which has 400. The Keystone State comes in fourth, behind New York and Texas. There are 218 post-secondary schools in Pennsylvania, based on federal Department of Education statistics. But look at the population, and things...
Editorial: Is paying teachers $10K a cure for shortage?
Money is not the only answer. With government, it often seems that way. No matter what the problem may be, there are any number of solutions that can be proposed. Most of them have big-ticket spending attached, which can end up on the chopping block later when the problem being...
Editorial: Pittsburgh and Philly bridges should lead nation in safety
Pittsburgh and Philadelphia seem to be eternally locked in competition. If one city is in the hunt for the Super Bowl, the other is a contender for the Stanley Cup. If one is up, the other is down. If one scores a win, the other wants to top it. Politics,...
Laurels & lances: Air show and shelter
Laurel: To a high-flying event. For some people, summer starts with the end of school. For others, it’s Memorial Day or that day on the calendar when the solstice officially begins the season. But, for many in Western Pennsylvania, the kickoff is about airplanes. The Shop ’n Save Westmoreland Airshow...
Editorial: Dissenting votes should be applauded amid political rhetoric
On Tuesday, the Allegheny County Council did something that doesn’t happen very often. It overrode a veto by Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald. By a vote of 10-5, the council decided that its earlier vote to establish a minimum wage for the county’s employees would stand. It was only the...
Editorial: Harrisburg ethics shouldn’t be a game of chance — or skill
Should Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board officials meet privately with casino lobbyists? That’s a good question. State Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Lycoming County, and state Rep. Jared Solomon, D-Philadelphia, showed a rare moment of bipartisan and bicameral agreement when they asked the Office of the Attorney General and the state Ethics Commission...
Editorial: Taylor Swift and Juneteenth prove peaceful, joyful fun is still possible
Pittsburgh does love a party, and there’s no party like a huge arena concert. On Friday and Saturday, the city welcomed fans of one of the biggest stars in the world when Taylor Swift brought her “Eras” tour to Acrisure Stadium. To say the turnout was heavy is an understatement....
Editorial: Bill to help combat blight statewide
If efforts of Pennsylvania municipalities to diminish blight in their neighborhoods were a video, it would be an endless loop replaying the same story. A building falls into disrepair; an absentee landlord declines to fix it, relying on property rights within the law to preclude the government seizing it. The...
Editorial: Big events like Taylor Swift concerts mean economic boon for local economies
There was no way of missing the fact Taylor Swift came to town. Acrisure Stadium may have been built for football, but this past week, the real score was put up by a 5-foot, 10-inch blond with a sequin-spangled wardrobe and a catalog of catchy, autobiographical hits. The two Pittsburgh...
Editorial: Pittsburgh synagogue shooting jury delivers justice
In a criminal court, the point of a trial is establishing responsibility. Was the person at the defense table guilty? Is there enough evidence to say this is who committed the crime? With some crimes, this seems downright pointless. We know who did it, society says. We know who is...
Laurels & lances: Schools and police
Laurel: To open discussion. It isn’t easy to talk about topics that point to problems. People can get defensive or frustrated. That doesn’t mean it’s better to just pretend the problems don’t exist. On Monday, Highlands School Board had that tough conversation. More than 100 teachers from the Highlands Educational...
Editorial: We won’t see another Stan Savran
With the passing of Pittsburgh broadcasting icon Stan Savran, the spotlight has turned on his place in the pantheon of talent that called or commented on Steel City sports teams over the years. More than one person — including Savran’s former “SportsBeat” co-host Guy Junker — has called to mind...
Editorial: Flag Day is a uniquely Pennsylvanian holiday
A flag is a curious thing. It is a thin, flat piece of cloth. It is distinguished only by its colors and perhaps a bit of embroidery, but at its heart, it is only threads woven back and forth, cut and stitched together with more thread. Yet it means so...
Editorial: If Marc Fogel is not wrongfully detained, why was Griner designated so for same crime?
Brittney Griner was harassed in an airport Saturday. The Phoenix Mercury player was in Dallas and heading to Indianapolis when she and her WNBA teammates were targeted by people filming them and shouting what one player called “wild remarks,” including that Griner hates America. For the team and the WNBA,...
Editorial: ‘Protection’ still core of DEP’s job
Farcically claiming that the state Department of Environmental Protection is an intimidating regulatory bully, state Senate Republicans have decided to promote a culture change at the agency by renaming it the Department of Environmental Services. On a strictly party-line 28-22 vote, the Senate passed the name-change bill Wednesday. “The word...
Editorial: The cost of consideration for school construction
Everyone knows inflation has been difficult for the past couple of years. Gas was up. Eggs were up. It’s probably easier to list what didn’t go up dramatically since 2019. That’s definitely a shorter list. The rising prices have made plenty of people think twice about purchases. So what if...
Editorial: Electric vehicle fee for road use is only fair — but is there a better path forward?
Changing technology doesn’t just affect business or industry. It also affects government, sometimes in how it regulates and sometimes in how it taxes. We are seeing that now with electric vehicles. In Pennsylvania, roads and bridges are funded, in large part, through gas tax. The Keystone State has some of...
Laurels & lances: Strange story, bad decision
Laurel: To a strange story. OK, we have to admit right up front that, sometimes, it’s hard to decide exactly whether a story should be a laurel or a lance. Sometimes, it could be both, depending on how you look at it. Sometimes, it could be neither but is just...
